Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1887-08-11
SEM H iASTINGS' DUCK.
The Part Whiefef 1t Played in Developing
hpieh Mine.

Inc Part Whiefef 1t Played in Developing
hPich Mine.
Alta CNaliforfie
An Anticipated ndN-Idual, dressed il
exceedingly shabby clothes 5, and with
gray hirsute appendage to his chin tina
woald have made an ambitious goat o
the male persuss sion feel decide, lily en-
vious, ambled into the rooms of the / Stat
Mining Bureau yesterday. He imme, 4
lately began to inspect the varieties of
ore and minerals on exhibition there as
If he was an officer regularly appointed
| by the State for that PURPOSE His ad-
vent upon the scene was soon made ap-
parent by a series of cultural sounds
which be emitted at Intervals of five
seconds. At last these sounds eliminated
in prolodged:
''Howlin' snakes"
He was standing before some particu-
larry fine specimens of gold quartz.
Il s'pose they call that gold" he snort
ed, addressing a meek little man who
stood beside him.
The meek little man nodded assent.
"Nagh," with another snort, this time
indicative of disgust. ''D' they call them
specimens of 40? Say, ldon't reckon YOU
were ever up at-'Cuss the Luck bar,
we're your"
Il don't think ever was,n said the meek
m an, thoughtfully.
"Of course you never knowed Jem
Hastings then; me and him ran the
bar in the early SOS. Talk of gold. Why
we wouldn't trouble bout them ere chunks
of gilded rocks. We he'd the Jumps of
solid metal big as you hand. Where
! dye s'pose our mine was?"
"Give it up" was the lecouic reply
Fright in the middle of Mudhen Lake,
and twas tur'ble deep down, too"
The meek little man began to show
| signs of interest, and inquired how they
got the aurifero1s article from the
| watery depths.
"Ah," pursued the ancient one with a
| chuckle, "that's whar our genius came in.
You see, Jem owned a big duck. It's
name was Buster. We discovered the
mine in this way. One day Buster was
diving and havin' a royal time in the
water, and after he had been sportin
about this way for bout an hour, we
seed him swinmin' to shore with some
thin shiny in his beak. Cuss me if
| 'twasn't nugget of gold. 'Rah,' SAYS
Jem, 'our fortunes made She took
Buster and petted him and gave him
encouraged the bird, and as soon as he
he'd stuffed himself Buster jest went out
on thai ere lake agin and begun diving
and bringing up the gold at a great rate.
Ye kin jest bang me with a pick handle
If Buster in the cOures of the next two
hours didn' work like Digger Iniun
when he gifts flash of whisky, and pile
up reg lar heap of lite nuggets on the
shore. Then he got kinder tired, and we
took him and the gold to the tent WAL"
continued the ancient narrator, taking
deep breath, 'we worked Buster for two
days, and yer had better blieve that we
had goOdish sight Of gold. More'n
twenty-five pounds, [ guess. Then an
lice struck Jem. He concluded that
there were bigger nuggets at the bottom
of the lake which Buster couldn't handle.
SO we rugged " a new scheme. We threw
big sack into the lake with a rock in it,
so that it would sink, and with a rope
tied to the top of it. Fust we showed it
to Buster, and he quacked as if he knOwed
just what it was For, and when We threw
it into the lake Buster followed. He was
OHt of sight In minute, and stayed under
a long time, Next we seed him poke his
head up for minute, as if to breathe,
and then go down agin. He's film, up
the sack, sure says Jem. In bout an
hour Buster swan ashore, and cooked his
weather eye up at US as if to say. It's
ell right Jem and I took hold of the
rope to pull the sack in; bat it wouldn't
bulge twas SO loaded with gold. Wall, to
make long story short-for it grives
me to think of item got mad and
waded in to get better grip, and got
caught in an undercurrent, Or somethin',
and was drowned. Buster was sittin' on
the shore watchin' proceedings, an when
he seed Jem go under he jes gave one
agonized' quaek and jumped into. He
actually committed suicide for love of
Jem. I couldn't git the bag ashore, SO
cut the rope off short. [ left with gold
was in the tent, but L lost it in unfortun-
ate speculation. Now what [ propose is
this: know the location of that 'ere lake,
and if | could get some capitalist, like
you, for instance
'Say," cried the little man, indignation
getting the better of his habitual meek
ness, "did you ever hear of Ananias?"
"Annie Nicer" said the slough" custo-
mer, tboughtfully; "she might have lived
over in Poor Shoat's camp. but I'm
DANCED if there was petticoat of that
name our way"
"Here," cried the diminutive man.
again, stake this quarter and go and buy
pamphlet edition of Baron Munchu-
SEN"
''Thankee," muttered the other, &C
cepting the silver; ''that will do towards
organizing an exploring party. But
femme tell you somethin' bout the child
hood days of Jem's duck"
But the little man had vanished, and
the self-styled relic of the departed days
of gold lost no time in fo flowing his ex-
ample.
He Gave Himself AWAY